Akima Zaeka was a Japanese boy trained in many fighting styles, many deadly, and was used by a manipulative sensei to win tournaments that he bet on. When the sensei was killed, Akima continued to live in underground Asia and participated regularly in tournaments. He became rich and well known, used and sponsored by many crime syndicates and legal corporations. However, he lost everything when the various syndicates and corporations went to war and were destroyed by law enforcement or each other. This is when the mysterious Mr. Merc took him under his wing. Akima was put through intense training, and genetic enhancement. When he was fully qualified and trusted, Mr. Merc showed him the Portal; a machined designed to travel between Earth's parallel dimensions. Mr. Merc told Akima he was now the first member of a group named the Mercenaries of the Dimensions. Akima was to forget his past and take on a new persona, an alias called Rendezvous. This was based on Akima's job of acting as an emissary for Mr. Merc. Now, Akima is less frequently used.

Ganeth Marrow was a traveler. He had no family to speak of, like Akima, but for a woman called Teach. Teach never told Ganeth his real name, original nation, nor the reason for his blue hair or white skin. All he knew was that he'd chosen Ganeth Marrow as his (or what was to become his,) legal name and that he and Teach went around the world meeting with people and then killing people, sometimes the same people. His existence was not known to these people as Teach taught him to hide and kill without letting anyone become aware of his presence. He did this without weapons of any kind known to man. Teach had taught him to control these black smoke beings that were transparent enough to not be seen in darkness but dark enough to leave a "shadow" in the light of which they stood. He used them to kill Teach's enemies. However, he failed Teach when a new specter appeared and killed Teach during a meeting. This specter has since joined Ganeth, but killed everyone in the room, including Ganeth, first. When Ganeth returned to his body, it was Mr.